UCSD Mus 173 - Electronic Music Production & Composition

General In this assignment we will use Envelope automation to create dynamic sounds that build up and then use LFO automation in Operator to create a harsh bass drop. As a possible motivation check out this Skrillex example around 50sec to 1:10.  You are free of course to create a very different buildup and drop, as long as it makes good musical sense. Learning Objectives: FM Instrument with Modulated SwD Clip Envelope Automation Use of LFO in Operator Using Noise sweep with AutoFilter Creating an accelerated drum roll with Arpeggiator Freezing tracks / Resampling HOW TO: 1. Creating a noise buildup by Envelope Automation In class we have shown how to use the Envelope Automation to create a sweeping noise.  Here is a short summary: Create a new track with Operator and select Noise as the waveform or find a noise sample and drop it into Simpler. Drop the AutoFilter down the signal chain and choose a Bandpass setting (second shape from the right). Adjust the Re...

Continuing our journey of Operator, we will explore FM synthesis for Deep House Bass. Steps to follow: Select the vertical row configuration in Operator In this case the yellow Operator A is at the bottom, which means its the only one that’s voiced Turn Operator B’s level up to 0.0dB so B is acting as the modulator, and A as the carrier. On the volume envelope bring down sustain (-inf dB) making B’s level drop over time as a note’s held down. Set operator B’s Coarse tuning to 2. This results in a raw deep house bass sound. Experiment with B’s Level, such as bringing it down to -12dB to smooth the effect. Listen to this Klubbheads piece for a similar sounding base (skip to about 4:40 to hear it play with drums only). To read more about different types of bass in Electronica, read this excerpt from Dance Music Manual. Note that the techniques described there are not Ableton based, and might differ in the way in proposes to recreate these sounds. Theory of FM: FM...

In this session we will explore some basic tools of sound design using additive synthesis with Operator. Part A - Setting the basic waveform Drag the Operator instrument into a midi track.  Select horizontal row that uses additive oscillators. Use Saw D waveforms for all four. Turn the Level of the oscillators approximately to the same level. Detune three of the oscillators by something between 10-20 cents Listen to the resulting sound and report what your hear: Turn on and off the three additional oscillators and notice the effect of adding a detuned waveform. Part B - Shaping the sound and note transitions In the Filter box select frequency of 400-500 Hz. Make the instrument monophonic by changing the Voices parameter to 1. In the Pitch settings select the G option that stands for Glide. Part C - Creating a Sub-bass in a Rack Right click the instrument and select Group. Drag another Operator in the rack . Use one oscillator with a default S...

There are several ways to rip sound files in order to use them in live as audio files or using the simpler object for more manipulation possibilities. 1) You can fetch a sound from soundcloud or youtube - > there are several websites that can fetch sounds from either these sites  http://www.online-convert.com/ -> click on audio converter and chose wav as your file. this will send you to the next page where you will paste the link of the youtube video or soundcloud song you want to convert. 1.1) You can also fetch a sound from exiting mp3 or other sound files you have in your computer.  2) Once you have fetched the wav file you can either open it in Audacity or any other DAW (digital audio workstation). Select the desired part of the sound file you want to rip and copy that into a new session of your DAW. Be sure to crop the file to have the desired duration taking care of the onset and the offset of the sound. -> Export the selected clip as a wav file and then o...

To help in your search for chords, acapella clips and other materials, here is a list of possible sound resources: Beatport <http://www.beatport.com/> , Bleep <https://bleep.com/> , FreeSound <http://freesound.org/> , Acapellas4U <http://www.acapellas4u.co.uk/> , ccMixter <http://ccmixter.org/> Other places to check out: http://www.reddit.com/r/SongStems/ Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the legal status of most of these stems... Echo Nest sandbox with stems of Jethro Tull < http://developer.echonest.com/sandbox/emi/jethro_tull.html > Bands like Nine Inch Nails, MuteMath, Zorch, Trifonic and others releasing freely their albums as stems, to allow people do their own mix, mashup, etc. Ableton has sets that are open for reuse < https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/tags/able10/ > You may also want to have a look at Indaba Music, in particular their remix opportunities (small fee to enter for one year). They organize remix con...

Slides from the class about Harmony are here . I also recommend going over this excerpt from the Dance Manual Book (see previous post "Books and references" with links to the book). Learning Goals: You should be comfortable with chord notations, major and minor scales and the rest of Music Harmony Theory appearing the readings above.

Here are some musical examples for this technique and style: Bicep - Feel It Lucid - Future Sound Collabs   Milton Jackson - Ghosts in My Machine   Mount Kimbie - Carbonated Lone - Sungrazer Cascade   Q. As we noted in class, the use of parallel chords does not follow the chord structure that would normally exist on a scale. Can you explain how melody and harmony are related in such case? Find in these videos some examples of harmonizing a melody that you like and see how it works.